


My Fragility

by InesStarkDowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 09:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InesStarkDowney/pseuds/InesStarkDowney
Summary: When Mr. Stark comes pick up Peter from school for the first time, Peter is incredibly confused. At first he thinks it's a mission, Mr. Stark needs him somewhere, but that doesn't make much sense. When Mr. Stark is painfully honest about spending time with Peter, he is just even more confused...Peter doesn't know how much he is loved by Mr. Stark but he finds out.





	My Fragility

**Author's Note:**

> Look at me ignoring Infinity War for now...

Peter was walking out of school beside Ned and Michelle, Michelle involved in some debate about The Avengers that Peter turned off to not give away anything that might tell her he was part (ish) of the team, when all 3 of them stopped at the sight of an Audi. It was all black with tinted windows and it was parked in front of the school entrance. To be honest, everyone around them was looking at the car as well, whispering about it. They didn’t know who the owner of it was (all that the plate said was “You know who I am”), but Peter knew too well. It was Mr. Stark. What was he doing here?

The right front window, in that moment, rolled down and the 3 teens were looking at Tony Stark: the genius, playboy, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, in a casual t-shirt and sunglasses, who looked more of a dad than a very famous and rich super hero. Ned’s mouth opened in awe, Michelle’s eyebrows arched and Peter just stared. Never before had Mr. Stark came by his school, much less pick him up. Was this an undercover call for some mission or…? Peter was lost.

“Is that Iron Man?”, Ned asked and Michelle proceeded to say that it was more likely a wannabe, because no way would Tony Stark come by their school, even if it was for geniuses. This was not MIT. 

“Hey, kid! Come on, get in. We’re going shopping, loser.” Mr. Stark yelled, and the reactions changed. Now Michelle gaped as well and Net looked wide eyed, but deeply confused, murmuring:

“Iron Man watched Mean Girls…”

Peter didn’t stay there long. He held on tight to his backpack and jogged over to the other side of the car and got in, right in time for Flash to come out and see Peter sitting next to Tony Stark. Peter felt as if every student was looking at him and figuring it all out: He was Spider-Man.

Mr. Stark grabbed Peter’s shoulder and squeezed it, smiling excitedly at him before waving Michelle and Ned goodbye and taking off in relevant speed.

“Is everything alright? Do we have a mission?”, Peter had adrenaline running through him already, either from Mr. Stark picking him up in front of the whole school or either from the possibility of the next mission and the fact that his mentor needed his help to the point of picking him up.

“What?”, Mr. Stark looked at Peter as they stopped in traffic. “No. Do you think I’d come pick you up from school, casually, if we were needed somewhere?”

“Uh…”, Peter stared at the traffic around them and then back at Mr. Stark. “I guess not…But then why did you come pick me up?”

Now it was Mr. Stark’s turn to hesitate in answering. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, but when he did answer, he sounded light and not hesitant at all (too light, light enough to make it sound strange in Peter’s ears).

“Can’t I spend some time with my favourite kid in the world?”

Mr. Stark made it almost sound like it was a nonchalant reason, like it didn’t mean that much, but from the way he acted and the way he phrased it, Peter could hear the true weight of those words. It was heavy and yet fragile, fragile enough that left Peter with a funny feeling in his chest. He couldn’t remember what it was and Peter was confused.

Peter did not let that show, though, and just smiled and asked “Won’t it be suspicious, though? Iron Man picking up some random kid at school? Won’t they figure it out that Spider-Man is me? If they found out, the news will quickly spread and bad guys will know about Aunt May, and-“

“Hey, hey! Calm down, Peter. Breathe.” Tony quickly dropped his cool façade and turned to Peter, with his hand in the centre of his back, providing Peter support and this link to the real word. Peter did as Tony requested and breathed. It was always easier when Mr. Stark was around him, to guide him, and to keep him afloat when everything about being Spider-Man overwhelmed him. “There you go. Don’t worry, they won’t find out, I swear, Peter. May will be just fine, as will Michelle and Ned. For the rest of the world you’re an intern at Stark Industries, again, and a very promising one, okay?”

Peter nodded as Mr. Stark got back to driving through New York. Peter played with the loose strings of his sweatshirt, thinking he needed to ask aunt May to fix them or else it would all fall out.

That’s when he remembered about her waiting for him back at home, nowadays always worried if he came home later than usual, afraid that Peter got hurt somewhere, completely alone. So Peter turned to Mr. Stark, once more, incapable of settling down in his seat for some goddamn reason he couldn’t figure it out.

“Aunt May doesn’t know I’m not going home. She’ll get worried.”

“Don’t worry, kid. I talked to her before I came to pick you up. I told her about the plans for tonight. You’ll be home before 10. Still enough time to get your beauty sleep on.”

“Oh… Good.”, Peter settled back down, looking at the cars in front of them, taking off, stopping, taking off, stopping and all of this over and over again. They wouldn’t leave for a while. “And what are the plans?”

“I was thinking we could work on something down in the workshop. Your suits, or mine, anything, really. I know you have a way with fixing and creating new things. Then maybe we could call for some pizza while we watch a movie: Star Wars, maybe?”

Mr. Stark looked at Peter with an encouraging smile, waiting to see Peter light up. All that Mr. Stark said sounded extremely fun and exciting, but why, though?

“It all sounds awesome Mr. Stark, but… why do you want to spend time with me? I am sure your life is extremely busy, not just because you’re Iron Man but because you have SI to worry about, and really, I am not going to go on reckless missions on my own just to get in trouble. You don’t have to babysit me. You can… go on with your life.”

The traffic stopped once more. This time Mr. Stark’s hands left the wheel only to run them through his hair. Mr. Stark took a deep breath and Peter knew he was going to talk and maybe Peter would go back home.

“If there’s one thing I learnt after all these years of reckless behaviour, of not knowing if I would ever come back home one day after a mission, of coming home to an almost empty house was that nothing is granted. Nothing lasts forever. People come and go and, sometimes, they don’t ever come back. One day I might be one of them. So I want to spend every possible moment with those I care about. I don’t want to die thinking I left something unsaid, thinking that someone never truly knew how much I cared for them. I’m not doing this to babysit you, Peter. I’m doing this because I care about you as if you were my own son and I want to spend time with you… while we have that opportunity.”

Peter kept quiet, looking at his hands, taking in everything Mr. Stark had said, playing it over and over again in his head. He felt as if he fucked up immensely. Mr. Stark did everything to spend time with him, because he cared that much and all Peter did was question his motives. Shit…

Mr. Stark cared… like a dad cared for his kid, and Peter didn’t know what that felt like for years. It was this foggy memory, a warm feeling in Peter’s chest. That’s what it was, all of that tingling feeling.

Peter couldn’t lose this. He refused to waste this opportunity with Mr. Stark.

“I always wanted to work on a car.”, Peter said at the end of silence filled minutes, “and you do that, right? Vision told me that you used to, at least.”

“Vision?”, Mr. Stark questioned and looked over at Peter, half confused, half surprised.

“Yeah! He told me that a few years ago you spent your evenings destroying cars just to put them back together, but better than before. He also said you did all of that while listening to very loud rock music. I’m not sure about the rock music, but the rest sounds awesome.”

Mr. Stark still stared at Peter dazed but he soon gained his characteristic lopsided grin back.

“We can do that, yeah. Is there anything else you want to do?”

“Hmmm… no, no. Oh, but while we eat pizza, we could probably watch some older movie. Like The Godfather. I never watched it. Ned has been bugging me to see it for weeks now, but with all the missions and school I haven’t had the time yet. And I know he wants to see it together, but I can see it with you.”

Mr. Stark was now full on smiling, nodding to whatever Peter said. In fact, Peter just kept on talking, talking about future plans, things they could do together, things Mr. Stark could help him out with at school. It was like suddenly someone opened a door to Peter and Peter loved what he saw on the other side: The constant presence of Mr. Stark by his side.


End file.
